Router or Modem Issues With Killer 1535

This article is intended to cover all issues that affect any access point, be it a router or modem, that occur when the Killer Wireless-AC 1535 connects or is connected.

The 1535 is a cutting edge Wireless-AC device with MU-MIMO and Transmit Beamforming technology and, as such, not all access points have firmware already installed that is able to handle the connection. Problems that some of our users have reported include:

Access point restarts or crashes upon connection, requiring restart

Access point restarts or crashes after being connected for some time, requiring restart

In this case, you are connecting to a device, such as a router, that you own, which is then connected to another device, such as a modem, which is owned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If the device in question is a modem, please be sure that, even if you own the device, your ISP supports any firmware that you flash onto the modem. Most ISPs maintain a list of accepted firmware versions for each device online.

In many such situations, you can update the firmware of your device to resolve this issue. You should first try to update the firmware through the router's interface, if possible. If that is not a feature of that router, or if that does not solve the issue, check for the latest firmware from the official support page of your router. If the problem is still not resolved, then see if your router is listed below. Listed below are the routers whose model numbers that we are aware of have issues, along with the location of the updated firmware that the router manufacturer has made available to address the issue:

Netgear WNDR5400 v3 - - Support rep PMing individuals beta firmware on a user-by-user basis. We are unaware of this particular version of the firmware being hosted openly anywhere.

If you own a different model than the one listed above, and updating to the latest firmware that is available from the support page of your router's manufacturer, we suggest contacting the support for your router, we suggest first updating to the latest Killer Control Center, found here - http://www.killernetworking.com/driver-downloads/item/killer-control-center-x64. If that does not solve the issue, the next step would be to contact the support for your device and advise them of the steps that you have taken, and ask if they have a beta firmware available. At the same time, please contact our support, as well, using this form - http://www.killernetworking.com/about/contact.

The Access Point is Owned By Your ISP

In this case, it is very possible that the device is running a very old firmware version. Most ISPs only update the firmware at the customer's request, or when it is absolutely necessary in order for the device to continue working on their network, and many ISPs use very old equipment. If you are connecting directly to an ISP owned device, and you are experiencing these issues, then your best bet would be to contact your ISP's support, and request that they update the firmware on the modem. This is usually a simple thing for them to do. If you are unable to resolve this by asking your ISP to update the firmware on the device, please let us know by contacting us here - http://www.killernetworking.com/about/contact - so that we may document the model of the access point that is not fully compatible with our device. In most cases, however, it is due to the age of the device, and a bug in its firmware. If asked, your ISP may be willing to change you to a different model of access point. You might also be able to provide your own access point (sometimes saving a monthly rental fee in the process), or buy your own router to plug into their modem, then use your router as the access point. If you decide to buy your own modem, most ISPs maintain a list of modems that work with their service. If you use multiple devices at the same time on the same access point, there is a good chance that you will see a boost in performance on all devices by providing your own modem.

Addressing the Isssue with Drivers

There are some discussion threads where we have commented, linking to specific drivers on our site, where those drivers have now been moved, causing 404 errors, or redirections to this page. Those drivers were links to .INF drivers that could be installed using the Device Manager, to address specific access points crashing when the 1535 would connect to them. These posts and links were created before we had driver-only installers hosted on our website, and were generally just the latest driver-only file that we had available at that moment, as the problem was believed to be cause by the performance suite at the time. You can now download the latest driver-only installer here - http://www.killernetworking.com/driver-downloads/category/other-downloads. However, this will not always solve the issue, as the issue is sometimes not the performance suite, but that of buggy firmware with the access point. If you wish to try and address the issue by using a driver-only install, you will need to download the driver-only installer, then uninstall all "Killer" entries in your Programs and Features menu, restart your machine, then install the driver-only package. This will remove all Killer network management capability.

We have had some reports of users who were only able to keep their routers stable with only one very specific driver version - usually some Windows 8.1 driver used on a Windows 10 machine. In those cases, we will do our best to locate a copy of that specific version for you but, unfortunately for those cases, Windows Update will often update those drivers anyway, and that is completely out of our control. There are some guides out there on how to prevent Windows Update from updating your device drivers, but we have neither tested nor endorse any particular method of doing so, and we cannot say what the repercussions may be.